Birth
by LaDyFiCtIoN2
Summary: [Prequel and Sequel to Life] This is how Kai's world, his life, dramatically changed all at once, before everything he knew was altered and lead him to his life with Rei. [KaRe]


I said I would not, but I could not resist. I may despise the original characters, but unless they serve a purpose, like in this case, they can be tolerated. 

**Prequel** and **Sequel** to _Life_, all at once. 

**Disclaimer:** Nothing.

**-Birth- **

Just another morning. That is all it was. There was nothing different to his day. He kissed his wife on the cheek, a light goodbye and patted her swollen stomach before he walked out the front door. He drove to work, parked his vehicle in the usual reserved place and strolled inside the building with his briefcase at his side. When his secretary greeted him, he asked for a second coffee, two creams and one sugar, then entered his office calmly.

A meeting waited for him. His guests and fellow enterprise owners were not yet present, but soon, they would be escorted in. He took a deep breath, arranged every file and folder necessary for the presentation and sipped at his coffee after its delivery to his desk. Now, all he had to do was wait.

The discussions went off without a hitch. He demonstrated his knowledge of the business, sold his marketing ideas and sat back down calmly as the verdicts were formulating in every mouth. A silence engulfed them after a round of applause. Who would be the first to speak?

There was no time for a speech. Any words, dancing at the tip of a tongue were drawn back when a ringing, low but loud enough for ears to notice, rang. He could have sworn he turned it off before they commenced. Eyes focused on him, he excused himself for a second and answered the cellular phone.

His orbs, the scarlet flames, exuding with confidence quickly widened as he tried to keep his composure. Guests watched him fumble with words; unlike the sermon, he spoke but minutes ago without a single flaw. Then, when the receiver closed, he addressed the chairmen. Another deep breath was sucked in.

''_My wife is in labor.'' _

Stern faces dissipated into congratulatory smiles and his distressed features softened, but for a fast second. A new sense of worry loomed overhead. This was it. Fatherhood came swiftly around the next corner of life. He rose and immediately, headed for the door. They understood.

Now, Hiwatari, Kai was about to become a new dad.

Every single fiber in his body told him to feel nervous but as he took in a deep breath from behind the wheel, he refused to let nervosa conquer him. This was going to unfurl like any normal day in the childbirth room. The doctors would enter as the contractions worsened and in a matter of hours, he would hold his child in his arms.

The whole ride over, a smile graced his lips. He was not overconfident in medical technology, but his wife was a strong person. She was about to bare him a first, and hopefully not last heir. Nothing mattered in that instance he shoved open the emergency room doors. He had but one focus.

In the hallway, after a nurse showed him the way, the familiar face of his friend's met his own. A look was exchanged briefly, and as he entered, a pained visage took in his sight. Her prince charming had arrived, in a two-breasted navy dress suit, nonetheless, in slight disarray. He looked perfect to her tired eyes.

He soon sat in the chair aside her bed. A hand grasped his, within a second, her stomach contracted, and he was thrown into the first actions. Her water had broken a mere hour previously. This was just the beginning. Slowly, the tension clasped between fingers diminished and she breathed out her relief.

Kai thought in that one moment, their first of this long process that she was, genuinely beautiful. This women, the only he ever dared spare a second glance too, matched a smile as evenly broad as the twitch in the lips that began to whisper to her. The words were soft and comforting, the one's she needed to here.

''I'll be right here for you.''

His fingertips gently brushed back the long bangs, fallen haphazardly over her smooth face. The navy color, rich and silky, clashed with the ivory tips. Her hair had always been attractive, elongated to her ankles and of a blue as dark as the night. She was a treasure to his eyes, but not overly stunning. He did not want some perfect princess, but a damsel.

She was, rather unusual. Kai always enjoyed the different. Nothing similar ever drew in his interest but she, after that first glance, captivated him in such a way that needed to look again. Never before had that happened. Her eyes, large and adorned with thick lashes, were bright and lit up her countenance. The coloring, a ginger that resembled the glow of the sun contrasted with the obscure hair, framing her stature.

His wife was far from the normal and that is why he asked her hand in marriage. Kai never once thought of proposing to anyone, nor being a father but she seemed to complete him, after he felt empty for so long. No one could ever fill the crevasses and cracks when every soul breaks for the first time, but she soothed his worried. She was his from that moment on.

Something about her would never let him leave and while she lay there, on the hospital bed, he would suffer along with her until the joyous wails of the infant reached his ears and filled the room. When all worries would fade and the cries of life would be born, then, and only then would he break. He would crumble from an executive to a family man and love every second of it.

A half day ensued, a total of twelve hours slid through the hourglass. Night had settled upon the sky and held it captive for another while until dawn broke. The contractions only increased and the time lapses between them dissipated. She was nearing the end. An epidural was injected down her back to numb the agony clenching her inwards.

The anguish floated away from her and spells of slumber made her weak eyes close. They lasted half hours at most but rest would be greatly required. The machine, printing out the intensity and her vital signals gathered up again on the floor. A nurse would soon check it and classify the build up, while more came out.

She entered with a wan smile. Her footsteps disrupted the silence. The bags under his scarlet eyes deepened as he watched her. He too, would need sleep. The consumed coffee and caffeine was quickly vanishing. A refill would be required. Then, when the young woman had not answered him, per her usual to indicate the happenings observed, he blinked and focused on her.

Everything suddenly felt eerie. Her face was etched with confusion and a worry crease indented her forehead. Wordlessly, she exited. He watched her heels disappear. He thought nothing of it and returned to gazing at the placid face. More minutes of nothing followed. Then, hurried shoes caught his hearing.

A doctor walked in, spared him a grave stare and went straight for the printouts. Something was wrong and Kai could feel it. Their whispers brought no comfort. His heart skipped a beat. He rose and the sounds of the chair scrapping against the tiles drew the medical staff out of their quiet discussion.

''Mr.Hiwatari, my assistant has discovered that there may be something wrong with the child's heart. There are abnormalities in these charts that we must act swiftly upon.''

The end of the sentence was lost to him. He blocked out all syllables and for the longest minute of eternity, the world around him stopped. This sudden worry and nervousness that he resisted engulfed him all at once. His knees almost gave out. These sentiments of pessimism he repressed were gnawing at his conscious. It felt difficult to breathe.

Words he wished to speak fumbled around in his mouth. Not even a coherent sound stuttered, in some vain attempt. Bit by bit, the information sank in, hard. The nurse began to shake his wife out of her sleep. He rushed to her side as she was roused awake. Drowsily, she mumbled random complaints as another wave of pain struck her lower abdomen. The words fast became screams.

The ward drowned in her hollering pain. She was the only one that night, in labor throughout the empty halls. A second nurse joined them from behind the desk. All watched in worry until the mother's breathing became shallow and tears stained her cheeks. She looked up at Kai's face and noticed his expression.

He did not speak; the doctor did. Quietly, he explained the situation. More drops spilled from her eyes that were wiped away from her damp skin. They asked her to breathe in deep and calm herself. A compress to her forehead cooled the burning, when the physician read her temperature. Her hand scrambled for Kai's and squeezed when the news of surgery finally lingered out.

''I'll do anything for my baby.'' She whispered to the staff around her.

Her agreement meant that she would have to undergo a cesarean. Kai refused to imagine a knife, or a scalpel cutting across her abdomen and piercing the flesh for them to remove the placenta manually. He felt his stomach drop. Was this life threatening? He could not ask, for words were still foreign to his vocal cords. They began the preparations. Assurances from their lips did not help, or leave him feeling relieved and eased.

She was threatened, her, the only thing in his life he was ever truly proud of. They were so young and starting a family. Should they have waited longer or been more patient? Their life and the celebration of another was not meant to unfurl as so. For the first time, in such a long while, after years and years, Kai felt afraid.

Only once before did he quiver in tremors with a fear like no other. That what then and this was now. He hurried a long with the doctors wheeling her out of the room. She had not yet been sedated. Her eyes blinked as she passed under each light from the ceiling and more sweat beads slid like tears down her cheeks. He grabbed her hand and shifted her gaze to his figure, wrecked, and fragile, following her as he said he would.

Minutes faded, as did her vision when the nurse injected a syringe into the bag suspended above her. The clear liquid traveled through the tubes joint and all connected to her bloodstream. It slowly took effect. Her breathing deepened as her eyelids began to sweep down over her glossy orbs in heavy blinks. The black lashes tangled and clung with perspiration and slumber. 

Through the slits, the oranges, as flawless and bright as the real fruit overflowed with empathy, two tears, one for each of them. Silently, in a whisper, she bid her farewells to her prince and gave his hand one last squeeze. Her love, enveloping three special words, floated to his eardrums as he gazed at her slipping away.

They would start the surgery now and his presence was asked to leave. In the waiting room, pacing from one end to another, he did exactly that, wait. Predictions told him, from the staff, that it would be at least two hours before her stitches and staples would lace back up her malleable skin. Then, they would transport her unconscious figure to her room.

Coffee, stale and reheated burned his dry throat. He sipped anxiously at the Styrofoam rim. To him, it tasted like nothing. He could no longer hear the clicking from the needles of the clock or the scribbling of a ballpoint pen upon medical sheets while the last nurse, sat and completed forms. The disturbance, noises, sounds, those things were all lost to his mind, exuding worry and what if questions, troubling and pounding against his cranium.

What if a complication occurred? He suppressed the thought, smothered it with his scorn for these terrible imaginations and found himself praying, not to a God, but to anyone listening, for his wife and their unborn child. Were they willing to lend him an ear and pay attention to these desperate pleas?

The lead doctor, the initiator, the savior of so many, walked out of the emergency room, letting the doors close loudly behind him. A head of slate locks jerked up, ensued by his body. He rushed up to the bearer of news, waiting for that mouth to open and speak to him of his reality. 

''Follow me Mr. Hiwatari, please.''

Both noiseless, they traveled down the same path Kai took after they informed him he could not stay by her side. They reassured that when she woke, he could be there and keep his husbandly promise. Anxiety wrecked his nerves and their footsteps sounded too hollow to him, too somber.

The trail ended with a closed door. The doctor, an older man, wise and experienced turned and fixed the youth before him. He tried to smile comfortingly but after so many years, those smiles became wan to the clientele. Tension loomed overhead and the stillness surrounding them was poignant.

''Kai, I'm afraid there is no other way to say this…''

Someone died. He knew it and it clenched at his heart and squeezed it cruelly. Death malicious took someone he loved, or perhaps even both. The general practitioner chose his words carefully and drew out the sentence, unsure and hesitant. Kai bowed his head low and sucked in breaths as if they were his own last.

His soul began to shatter and each piece, like thin glass, smashed into shards, a puzzle of brokenness. Knees, quaking, buckled and slammed roughly into the tiles, dragging down the body of someone once so strong and stoic. His perfect vision blurred and his eyes stung. Nothing had ever hurt this much before. 

''She-''

One word was enough. He knew what this salty water was, descending his face. He refused the hands that offered more assistance, the dirty ones washed away of blood, like her life, nonexistent and gone, down the drain with her essence. Then, as he sunk lower and lower into his abysmal abyss, light wails, pitched squeaks and crying resonated in his head. He pushed past the doctor and into the room where the incubator was.

A baby, whining to the new world, opened his dark mahogany eyes and instead of his seeing his mother and her content face, he first laid eyes upon his father, crying just as he was. His tears fell upon the blankets all around the wrapped up bundle as in a broken voice, he whispered to his son.

_''Gou…''_

And that would be his name, Hiwatari, Gou, an heir born to the saddest man, alone in this new world. 

Three long years, like grains of sand, leaked through the hourglass of life. Snow, immaculate, pristine, untainted and pure layered the ground at this time of the year. More fell from the sky and swayed until each flake landed upon the frozen earth. The winter, arctic and cold was beautiful and breathtaking.

Feet crunched the crystallized water as they walked a long the ivory, not yet cleared with a path. They trudged, past stone after stone, hands clasped together, one gloved and the other bare. As contrasting as ebony could be against the whiteness around them, they stood in black attires with desolate faces.

The last tombstone of marble waited them. A single rose was left in the brass holder barely poking out of the snow. Small hands placed it there, those of a young child's as he looked up to his parent. Together, father and son, they visited mommy's grave, the late _Hiwatari_, _Kisa_.

Behind them, back at the car, familiar and loved faces now waited for them, on this tragic anniversary date.

**-EndE-**

Kai's wife was meant to resemble Rei with her navy hair and orange eyes. If I'm correct, her name, _Kisa_, should also mean _Cat_ in Russian.

And, those familiar faces at the end, Rei and his daughter, Rin.**  
**


End file.
